The Progressive Midwesterner

Illinois, Wisconsin, and national politics from a progressive perspective and more!

[progressivemidwesterner]

Does Scott Walker want to put elected officials in charge of administrating elections in Wisconsin?

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The blog post includes a word, Nixcarthyism, that has, to my knowledge, never been used before. Nixcarthyism is defined as a corrupt, vindictive style of politics that combines the style of politics of Richard Nixon and the style of politics of Joe McCarthy.

Scott Walker’s Nixcarthyism knows no boundaries. As Governor of Wisconsin, he’s used a recall petition against him as a…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

One week in, and my effort to lose weight is working!

AUTHOR’S NOTE #1: The blog post includes measurements in U.S. customary and metric units, with metric conversions in parenthesis and courtesy of Wolfram|Alpha, except for a figure that was calculated by subtracting two metric figures, which was calculated by me.

AUTHOR’S NOTE #2: This blog post is merely a documentation of the author’s obesity problems and attempts at weight loss, and the post is…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

Milwaukee is why Wisconsin progressives can't have nice things

After the Wisconsin State Senate voted overwhelmingly to give a quarter of a million dollars in corporate welfare to the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks so that they can build the new arena that the NBA is forcing them to do, I’ve come to the conclusion that Milwaukee is why Wisconsin progressives can’t have nice things.

Over the past quarter of a century or so, Milwaukee has become a cesspool for…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

Scott Walker is on the wrong side of history when it comes to gay adults in the Boy Scouts

Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker has frequently mentioned the fact that he was an Eagle Scout when he was younger on the campaign trail, largely due to having been a politician virtually his entire adult life and having very few accomplishments outside of politics to cite on the campaign trail.

However, what Walker recently said about the Boy Scouts of Americais absolutely…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

Explaining why Scott Walker is a fascist

By my definition of a “fascist”, Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker is a fascist. That’s because Scott Walker meets every single one of the 14 points of fascism, as compiled by political scientist Dr. Laurence Britt in 2004:

Powerful and Continuing Expressions of Nationalism – In his presidential announcement speech (transcript here), Walker repeatedly talked about his patriotic love…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

Oklahoma Republicans compare poor people to animals in Facebook post

Who ever controls the Oklahoma Republican Party (OK GOP) Facebook page posted an incredibly insensitive “lesson in irony” comparing poor people who need food stamps in order to put food on their tables to animals in our national parks:

The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing this year the greatest amount of free Meals and Food Stamps…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

Unlike what Mike Bloomberg and the media want you to think, Bernie Sanders is not a gun nut

Unlike what Mike Bloomberg and the media want you to think, Bernie Sanders is not a gun nut #BernieForGunSafety

Pro-gun control groups backed by former Republican-turned-independent New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the corporate media are not going after any of the many Republican gun nuts who are running for president. Instead, they’re going after Bernie Sanders, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, and trying to paint him as a frothing-at-the-mouth gun nut, which is not true at…

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[aaroncamp]

[progressivemidwesterner]

How Scott Walker’s policies have hurt Wisconsin women (via UltraViolet)

[progressivemidwesterner]

As he launches his presidential campaign, Scott Walker compares Wisconsinites to special interests

As he launches his presidential campaign, Scott Walker compares Wisconsinites to special interests #NotASpecialInterest

Approximately 19 seconds into Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s presidential campaign announcement video, an unnamed narrator for the Walker campaign said that Walker “beat the special interests” over a video clip of progressive protesters supporting the unsuccessful recall attempt against Walker in 2012. At around the 39-second mark of the video, Walker himself spoke in front of the…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

Scott Walker is a national disgrace.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

[progressivemidwesterner]

Bruce Rauner tries to buy votes from his own party's legislators, some Republicans won't take his money

In May of this year, Republican Governor Bruce Rauner sent out campaign donations, totaling $400,000, to every single Republican member of the Illinois General Assembly. Since there are a total of 67 Republicans in the General Assembly (47 in the state house, 20 in the state senate), that means that the average donation from Rauner to legislative Republicans is, rounded to the nearest cent,…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

My struggles with obesity, and how I'm trying to lose weight

My struggles with obesity, and how I’m trying to lose weight

AUTHOR’S NOTE #1: The blog post includes measurements in both U.S. customary and metric units, with metric conversions listed in parenthesis and courtesy of Wolfram|Alpha, except for a square meters calculation that is my own.

AUTHOR’S NOTE #2: This blog post is merely a documentation of the author’s obesity problems and attempts at weight loss, and the post is not intended to give weight loss or…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

An Open Letter to America about Scott Walker from an Illinoisan who has blogged about Walker

Scott Walker's track record as Governor of Wisconsin is absolutely horrible #NoteToAmerica

My fellow Americans,

Later today, Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker will formally launch his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

As someone who has blogged about Walker on a regular basis for the past few years, I’ve come to know Walker as a horrible politician who, with the help of his political allies in the Wisconsin State Legislature, has destroyed Wisconsin’s…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

The Democratic establishment brings out their worst people to attack Bernie Sanders

Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who probably would have been elected Mayor of New York City two years ago had it not been for the infamous Carlos Danger sexting scandal derailing his campaign, hasn’t officially endorsed a presidential candidate to my knowledge. However, that hasn’t stopped Weiner from attacking Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sandersfor running for the Democratic…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

We need to bring down the (Confederate) flag. The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in every corner of American society.

U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA)

[progressivemidwesterner]

Why a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for Scott Walker

Why a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for Scott Walker #FeelTheBern #TeamBernie #HillaryCantWin #StopWalker

There is one simple reason why Hillary Clinton cannot defeat Scott Walker in next year’s general election for president: too many people have an opinion of Hillary.

If one were to look at page 50 of the latest polling data from Public Policy Polling (PPP) in North Carolina, a swing state that narrowly went for Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, one will find that Scott…

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[progressivemidwesterner]

Milwaukee's ticking oil train time bomb (Cochant train de pétrole la bombe à retardement de Milwaukee)

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The following article includes a French translation, courtesy of Google Translate. I have no actual working knowledge of the French language. Below the first page break is the English-language article, and below the second page break is the French-language translation.

NOTE DE L’AUTEUR: L’article suivant contient une traduction en français, gracieuseté de Google Translate. Je ne…

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